Two identical autonomous dynamical systems coupled in a master-slave conﬁguration can exhibit anticipated
synchronization (AS) if the slave also receives a delayed negative self-feedback. Recently, AS was shown to
occur in systems of simpliﬁed neuron models, requiring the coupling of the neuronal membrane potential with its
delayed value. However, this coupling has no obvious biological correlate. Here we propose a canonical neuronal
microcircuit with standard chemical synapses, where the delayed inhibition is provided by an interneuron. In this
biologically plausible scenario, a smooth transition from delayed synchronization (DS) to AS typically occurs
when the inhibitory synaptic conductance is increased. The phenomenon is shown to be robust when model
parameters are varied within a physiological range. Since the DS-AS transition amounts to an inversion in the
timing of the pre- and post-synaptic spikes, our results could have a bearing on spike-timing-dependent plasticity
models